The U.S. Capitol is ex­­­­pected to remain relatively quiet in the weeks before the Nov. 8 election. But that’s likely to be the calm before the storm on agricultural issues in Congress, according to Washington insiders who spoke at a panel during last week’s Farm Progress Show near Boone.

Lawmakers, the panel members said, are likely to begin working on several key issues surrounding the safety net provisions in the current farm bill and will soon begin discussing provisions for the next farm bill. Work to pass the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, will also ramp up, as well as efforts to fend off cuts in crop insurance, they said.

"It’s hard to predict how much will happen during the lame duck ...